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Will bill to protect marine mammals ever become law?

When it comes to improving animal welfare, the wheels of Parliament grind slowly. So it is with a motherhood bill that would, with key exemptions, ban the cruel practice of keeping marine mammals such as whales, porpoises and dolphins in captivity.

It would also ban the practice of breeding these cetaceans.

Bill S-203, if it becomes law, would ban the practice of keeping marine mammals, like this animal seen at Marineland in 2012, in captivity. (Toronto Star file photo)

Bill S-203 finally cleared the Senate last week. It took more than three years to get past opponents in the upper house. Now it has to navigate the House of Commons before becoming law.

We shall see how long that takes.

The bill began life in June 2015 as the brainchild of Nova Scotia Sen. Wilfred Moore. Bill S-230, as it was called then, wasn’t a radical piece of legislation. But then Moore, a lawyer and former Halifax city councilor, wasn’t a radical man.

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Indeed, by the time he introduced his bill in the Senate, only two Canadian institutions kept cetaceans in captivity — the Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland, a Niagara Falls amusement park.

Supporters of Moore’s bill argued that confining highly intelligent marine mammals in small spaces amounted to animal cruelty. Polls suggested the public was onside. The bill was expected to clear the Senate relatively quickly.

That wasn’t to be. First a federal election intervened. That meant that the measure, renamed Bill S-203, had to be reintroduced in the fall of 2015.

Then it had to be referred to a Senate committee for study. That took more than a year. Finally, it had to be voted on by the Senate as a whole. That took months longer.

At every stage a handful of opponents used every procedural tactic they could think of to delay and obstruct passage of the bill.

The whole process took so long that by the time it reached the Senate floor for a final vote, Moore — who turned 75 in 2017—had long retired.

Throughout, the bill’s sponsors have shown themselves willing to compromise on just about every front.

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Critics said the ban could hurt Marineland and the Vancouver Aquarium. The bill as written would allow these institutions to keep any existing cetaceans they now hold.

Critics said the ban would harm research into marine mammals. The bill as written would exempt from the ban those doing research authorized by a provincial government.

Critics said the ban would prevent zoos from helping wild marine mammals in need. The bill as written would allow for the capture and containment of cetaceans in distress.

Along the way, the Vancouver Aquarium announced it was getting out of the cetacean business anyway. That left Marineland, which currently holds about 55 marine mammals, as the bill’s only significant commercial opponent.

In a press release cited by the Niagara Falls Review last week, Marineland denounced Bill S-203 as unscientific, calling it part of an effort by “radical animal rights groups from the United States” to close down the amusement park.

It urged the Commons to kill the bill.

Will MPs oblige? It’s not out of the question. Elected members have shot down motherhood animal welfare bills before.

Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, which has been squeamish in the past about embracing animal welfare, could simply rag the puck, delaying substantive debate on the bill long enough to effectively kill it before next October’s general election.

But support for the bill crosses party lines, so maybe something will happen.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Bill S-203’s sponsor in the Commons, is expected to introduce it Monday for first reading.

That’s just three years, four months and 18 days after it first saw light of day in the Senate.

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